Virus control building management system
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Current building management systems lack the ability to effectively indicate and provide a safe indoor environment against viruses like COVID-19, particularly in touch-free configurations, and fail to ensure compliance with safety guidelines for air quality and physical distancing.
Innovation Solution
A building management system that utilizes sensors to monitor properties such as temperature, humidity, VOC, CO2 levels, and BLE strength, communicating with a controller to control ventilation and provide touch-free user interaction through a smartphone app, voice recognition, or hand gestures, offering clear visual indicators of safety status and managing room access to minimize virus transmission.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If mask wearing and social distancing are practiced in indoor environments, then virus transmission is partially reduced, but occupants still feel unsafe and transmission cannot be completely prevented
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces mechanical protection methods (masks and physical distancing) with an automated building management system that uses sensors, controllers, and ventilation systems to detect and respond to occupancy conditions, thereby providing more reliable virus transmission prevention without requiring continuous manual effort from occupants
Solution Approach 2:
The system enables self-service by automatically monitoring room occupancy through sensors and adjusting ventilation systems without human intervention, allowing the environment to self-regulate safety conditions and provide continuous protection even when occupants are not actively practicing safety measures
2Reliability
If ventilation systems operate continuously at high capacity, then air quality improves and virus spread is reduced, but energy consumption increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements dynamic ventilation control where the system adjusts ventilation capacity based on real-time sensor data about room occupancy and air quality conditions, allowing the ventilation system to operate at high capacity only when needed (when occupants are present) and reduce capacity when rooms are unoccupied, thereby maintaining air quality safety while reducing overall energy consumption
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses sensor feedback to continuously monitor occupancy conditions and automatically adjusts ventilation system operation accordingly, creating a closed-loop control system that optimizes energy usage while maintaining required air quality standards through real-time response to changing conditions
3Reliability
If touch-free interaction systems are implemented, then contact transmission risk is reduced, but system complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements multi-functional sensors that serve both occupancy detection and touch-free interaction purposes, allowing the same hardware infrastructure to support multiple functions (ventilation control, occupancy monitoring, and contactless user interface) thereby reducing overall system complexity while maintaining contactless safety
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system effectively reduces virus transmission risk by ensuring safe air quality and physical distancing, providing real-time safety indications and internal contact tracing, enhancing user safety and reassurance in indoor environments.
Implementation Method 1
a ventilation system exchanging air with the one or more rooms
Implementation Method 2
a sensor monitoring one or more properties... such as temperature, humidity, VOC, CO2 levels
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
AI summary
A building management system is provided. The building management system uses a ventilation system to exchange air within a room in the building. A controller uses a sensor to determine a property about the room and operates the ventilation system in response thereto. The controller also operates an indicator to provide the users with the status of the room.